Louise from MCCI was present with a table full of resources for Meigs County Residents. -The Meigs County Cancer Initiative was founded in 1993 and established through the Appalachia Leadership Initiative on Cancer. MCCI focuses on increasing awareness, providing education on ways to prevent cancer, promoting cancer prevention and the importance of early detection of cancer for long-term survival. They also have resources such as gas cards to help with traveling expenses during cancer.
Melissa McIntyre represented Ohio University, Turn It Gold, presented a BOLD award to Athletic Director, Brock Stewart. Ohio university Turn It Gold has been an active foundation for the past 10 years. In these 10 years, they have awarded 10 Bold awards to date, Brock’s made #11.
Turn it Gold is honored to present a Bold award to Athletic Director Brock Stewart.
Brock was one of the first students to be involved with OU Turn it Gold while a Senior in High School 10 years ago. During this time he helped planned some of the very first Turn It Gold athletic games to raise awareness for childhood cancer and support families in the midst of treatment.
Melissa McIntyre, mom of Childhood Cancer Survivor Braylyn Johnson shared, “As an athletic director, Over the past 2 years, Brock has allowed me to bring Turn It Gold Events here locally to Eastern high school allowing for increased awareness to our community during many different sporting events..such as volleyball, basketball, football, and baseball. We could not do this without Brock’s assistance and we are forever grateful to bring childhood cancer awareness to our community that has been affected so heavily since n the past 4 years by this disease.
They also shared updates on the 3 local children that have fought and won the battle against Cancer.
Mackenzie's info: In April of 2023, Mackenzie went from being an active, carefree 11 year old, to being very unexpectedly diagnosed with stage 3 Ovarian Cancer after a routine doctor's visit for the flu. Now 13 years old Thankfully, she has been in remission for 1 1/2 years now. She is back to enjoying sports, band, being outside as much as possible, and pestering her older sister Braelyn.
Hunter was diagnosed with brain cancer, January 2024 at just nine years old. Yesterday Hunter turned 11 and is living his best life. He is in his first year of post treatment scans and gets scans every 3 months. His last scan was beginning of April and he is cancer free. He’s back to karate full time and looking forward to a fun filled summer
Braylyn was diagnosed with an aggressive bone cancer in May 2021 days before his 14th birthday. Braylyn has been in remission for three years and 10 months postop a rare amputation, rotationplasty due to long-term chemo effects. Braylyn is now 17 yrs old and living his best life and doesn’t let anything hold him back. In March of this year, Braylyn returned to Baseball with his fellow teammates, finishing off his senior year. Braylyn plans to attend Ohio University in the fall to begin working towards his dream of becoming a physical therapist.
